The Introduction of a New Custom
by Lirulin
Summary: Elladan and Elrohir have just returned from their first trip into the wide world. There they learned about a custom very unfamiliar to them, which they now want to introduce to Imladris...


**The Introduction of a New Custom**

**Disclaimer: **Sadly, nothing in here belongs to me. I just borrowed the characters from the unbelievable J.R.R. Tolkien.

This is the Mother's Day present for my mum which I wrote down fairly quickly, as I'd forgotten about Mother's Day completely. It's also my first Lord of the Rings story, so please be gentle.

On a sidenote: I know that Hobbits don't appear in the records until much later in the Third Age and that the Prancing Pony definitly didn't exist, but I needed both for the story (also because I couldn't think of another name for an inn). So please bear with me there.

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**Imladris, 239 Third Age**

It was a beautiful day in May, the flowers stood in full bloom and a sweet scent wafted all over the peaceful valley of Rivendell. Elladan and Elrohir had just returned from their first journey outside the borders of their home and were still very excited about all the strange and new things they had experienced. At 109 years of age, they thought themselves quite grown up and were very proud that their father had allowed them to explore the lands that lay west of Imladris.

They had come so far as Bree, right at the borders of the Shire and it was there that the twins had had their first encounter with Hobbits and had heard of a custom quite unfamiliar to them.

It had been a rainy evening and Elladan and Elrohir had been sitting in the Prancing Pony, the newly opened inn in Bree, eating their dinner and being still somewhat curious about the Little Folk. Suddenly, two Hobbit girls had come up to their table and asked if they could join them. Those two, by the names of Lily and Daisy Took, proceeded to tell them that they had never seen elves before and if they probably could ask some questions? The conversation that ensued had been a very merry one and each had learned a lot about the other, but after perhaps two hours Lily and Daisy said that they had to leave now, "Because we still have to prepare our presents for Mother's Day."

Elladan and Elrohir had been quite confused by this, as they had never heard about such a day, and the two Hobbits had quickly explained to them that it was a special day in the Shire, celebrated once every year in May, where the mothers were honoured and thanked for all the hard work they did for their families. There were presents given to the mothers and they were served the whole day. As Daisy put it, "You know, we're thankful the whole year through and tell them so very often, but we think there needs to be a special day that's reserved just for the mother."

And now, being back at Imladris, the twins were still thinking about this custom. While bringing their horses to the stables, they talked about it again.

"Why don't have we elves something like this, Dan? Are our mothers working less?"

Elladan, who was the more quiet and scholary of the two, took his time in answering. "No, I don't think it's that. Perhaps it's ... well, we're living a lot longer than Hobbits and we don't think in years like they do."

But Elrohir wasn't content with that. "Still, I think it's a very good thing to honour your mother. We should do it as well. Don't you think we should introduce this custom to Imladris?"

Elladan had already been thinking along the same lines, as was often the case with his twin. Their minds were very much alike, they often knew what the other was thinking and could even finish each others sentences. "I do think that's a very good idea, Ro. So, let's declare that tomorrow is Mother's Day."

Elrohir clapped his hands, that was exactly what he had wanted. "Great! Now we just have to figure out what to give Mother tomorrow."

But that was easier said than done and for the next hour they sat on the front porch, contemplating what would be a suitable gift for their beloved mother.

"What about flowers? I saw quite beautiful ones at the west end of the valley." Elrohir really couldn't think of anything else and because this was the first somewhat reasonable idea, they set out to collect the prettiest flowers they could find.

At length they came to the western end and there were really some very nice flowers. The only problem was, that they grew on top of quite a high cliff and that you first had to climb up to reach them.

Elrohir, feeling a bit reckless that day, volunteered to do the task and began to make his way up to the ledge where the pretty red and gold flowers stood. He made it up safely, but just as he was about to pluck out the first flower, it happened.

A bee, which had been quite contently gathering pollen for its honey, was suddenly roused by an enormous shaking and interrupted in its work. Now being very angry, it flew out of the flower and stung the first thing it came in contact with. Which just happened to be Elrohir's nose.

He gave a great shriek, stumbled backwards, toppled off the ledge and landed – unfortunately – on his behind, in a bush full of thorns. For a moment he just sat there, stunned, rubbing his slowly swelling nose. Then he quickly got out of the bush and started picking thorns out of his bottom.

At that Elladan couldn't contain it any longer and burst out laughing loudly. Elrohir, understandably, didn't think the whole ordeal very funny and just grumbled. "I want to see you, when you're stung by a bee out of the blue, and then fall down into a plant which just exists to torment you."

Elladan then stopped his laughing, but he couldn't help still giggling a bit and he had to wipe his eyes, which had filled with tears of mirth. "Sorry, Ro, but you should have seen your face! Hilarious! I take it that we forget about the flowers now?"

Elrohir couldn't agree more. "Quite right. I've never liked flowers anyway, and... I mean, Mother has enough flowers in the gardens."

So they returned to the house, still none the wiser concerning their present. During their venture to the far end of the valley, afternoon had turned to evening and the first stars were twinkling in the slowly darkening sky. Both of them were now fairly subdued.

"Whatever are we going to do, Dan? It's almost night, and we wanted to give it to her tomorrow!"

"Stop whining, Elrohir! I don't know. We have to think about what she likes."

So, after telling their parents that they were very tired and intended to go to bed immediately, they retreated to their room to discuss further options.

"You know, I just remember something. Some weeks ago I overheard her telling Father that she really dislikes the wall paintings in this one room. Now, if I could just remember what room it was..." Elrohir furrowed his brow in thought.

"Ro, that's a fantastic idea! If you can think of the room, then we can go there and do some new paintings on the walls!"

After some long moments Elrohir sprang up. "Come! I know now. It's that room in the east wing, where Father keeps all those age-old artefacts."

Silently, because they didn't want anyone to see them, they first made their way to the store room, where they got brushes and some paint, and then crept to a far away room in the east wing. Arriving there, they lighted some candles and took a look around. On a stand, there lay an old, broken sword, in a glass case they could see a long, gem-encrusted spear and in a corner there stood a big, ornate bowl, made out of what seemed to be very delicate and shining blue glass.

"The paintings are really hideous, Dan! Let's start right away."

The pictures on the wall seemed to show some kind of battle, but in the minds of the twins it was not very artistically done. So they began to first cover the walls with a layer of paint and because they knew their mother liked this particular colour – she had a dress in it – the room was soon a bright, vivid pink.

"I think that already looks quite good. Now we have to draw something on it."

And because they thought that green went along rather well with pink, they started drawing all sorts of things – flowers, animals and anything they could think of out of their everyday lives – on the walls.

But then, just as Elladan was finishing a bird with a flourish, there was huge crash and the delicate blue bowl was lying in pieces on the ground. Elladan had knocked it clear of its stand. They looked at each other, eyes wide with fear.

Elrohir was the first to speak. "By the Valar! Now we're in for it! I bet that bowl was mightily valuable! What are we going to do? Father will kill us! We'll be in the Halls of Mandos by tomorrow morning!" He started breathing very fast and Elladan feared he would faint any moment.

"Calm down, Ro! We... we have to hide it. Father rarely comes to this room and we'll just have to think about another present for mother! We simply don't tell them that we were here and painted the walls. Now, where can we hide those shards...?"

By now he was pacing up and down, trying to think of the remotest room in the house. "I know! We bring them into this room in the cellar. The one that's all damp and dingy. No one goes there ever!"

But as he said those words, Elrohir became deathly white, a lot paler than he already was. "Oh no!" And he sat down with a thud.

"What's the matter?", Elladan asked uneasily. "I just ... I just went over the conversation between Mother and Father again and ... well ... I think I might have ... ah... misinterpreted something..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you see, Dan, I was quite a bit away when they were talking and I couldn't hear everything clearly. And now, as you said that with the room in the cellar... I seem to remember that she said something about 'compairing the room to the dungeons of Mirkwood Palace'. At the time I was sure she said painting and something about a sword, but ... she could've meant that room in the cellar..."

Elladan stumbled a few steps backwards. "What? You mean, she didn't dislike the paintings in this room? And now we've not only broken a very precious bowl, but we've also ruined something seemingly important? Do you know what battle it was showing?" He asked all this very fast and with growing horror.

"I don't know which battle it was. I think there were elves and men in it. I didn't care! And yes, that's what I wanted to say."

Elladan slumped against a table. "Ro, I swear, if you weren't my brother... Oh well, we have to act quick now. I just know what we have to do."

With that he knelt down, scooped up the pieces of the broken bowl and put them in a small pouch he had found in a drawer. Then he went to the door, grabbed the key which was hanging on a little hook beside it and motioned for Elrohir to follow him. Once outside Elladan locked the door and they then made their way down to the cellars.

"We just hide the key together with the shards. When Father wants to go in and finds the door locked, he won't bother searching for it. I mean, the rooms really not that important at all, don't you think, with all those old and broken things..."

Elrohir agreed with him on that and so they hid the key and the shards in the damp and dingy room in the cellars, inside a rotten barrel.

When they had returned to their chamber, they resumed thinking about a present, because they were still not willing to give up the glorious idea of Mother's Day.

"I've got another idea, Dan!" But Elladan was by now very wary of the ideas of his twin. "Does it involve climbing cliffs or painting walls?" Elrohir just waved him off. "No, not at all. You know that Mother likes sweet things. So what do you say to baking her a cake? There won't be anyone in the kitchens now, they're all asleep. And we still have time enough."

After thinking it through carefully, Elladan could find no fault with this plan – after all, what could go wrong with a little bit of cooking – and so they set out again, now for the kitchens.

Arriving there, they immediately started taking out pots and pans and gathering together all ingredients they thought belonged in a cake. Then they mixed sugar, butter, eggs, flour, cinnamon and some other spices together and stirred till the dough had just the right consistency.

Suddenly, Elladan remembered something one of the cooks had told him a few years ago. "Ro, we have to put yeast in this, so that it goes up nicely."

Elrohir, who now remembered that he had heard the same thing sometime, fetched the package and started pouring the powder into the dough. "How much do we need, Dan?"

Well, Elladan didn't know very much about cooking or baking, that much was sure. "I don't know, Ro. Better take the whole thing, least it's too less in the end."

So Elrohir put the whole package of yeast into the dough and then brought the form to the oven. "It's really our luck that the fire's still burning. It won't take all that long."

So while the cake was in the oven they went all round the kitchens, eating everything they could find from grapes to cherries to cold meat. They had missed dinner in their quest for a present and were now quite hungry.

After a while, Elrohir went to the oven to check on the cake and not a minute later he gave a shout. "Dan! Come here and look! Is it supposed to do that?"

When Elladan arrived at his brother's side, he saw what he meant. The cake was swelling rapidly and it didn't seem to stop anytime soon.

"I don't know, Ro. Perhaps we should..."

But he didn't finish his sentence, because just then, there was a loud bang, the oven door was blown out of its hinges, the brothers were flung backwards and half-baked cake dough was sprayed everywhere.

Elladan and Elrohir sat on the floor, bewildered.

"What happened, Dan? What did we do?"

They just couldn't figure out what had gone wrong with the cake. Why had it exploded?

Elladan was just as confused as his brother. "I don't know what happened. We only put normal things into the cake. But I know that we're in big trouble – again. And we can't hide this one."

Elrohir nodded dejectedly. "Do you think they would believe us if we told them it was a horde of hungry orcs ruining the kitchen?"

Elladan had to laugh slightly at this comment. His brother always managed to crack a joke, even in the most dire circumstances. "I don't think so, Ro. Let's try to clean up this mess."

So they took some rags and started scrubbing away, trying to remove the bits and pieces of half-baked cake that seemed to cling to every surface. There was even some on the ceiling.

They didn't manage to clean everything, and the oven was a completely impossible task, not to speak of the blown off door.

In the end, they just had to leave it as it was and stole back to their room. There they sat miserably on their beds, not knowing what to do with their great idea of Mother's Day.

"I'm not trying anything more and risk getting into more trouble. I can't imaginge what'll happen when Mother and Father find out about the kitchen tomorrow."

Elrohir was readily agreeing with his brother there. "Of course you're right, Dan. But I still think we should do something for Mother. She's always there for us and she's always kind and compassionate. She deserves a day to honour her."

So they started again and after thinking and lots of more thinking they finally had the perfect idea...

888

The next morning, Elrond and his wife Celebrían were awoken by quiet voices in front of their bedroom door.

"Shhh! Stop making such a racket, Ro! It's supposed to be a surprise!"

"Well, it's not my fault when you're stepping on my toes, Dan!"

Elrond exchanged a small smile with his wife and wondered, what their sons had planned now. They were preparing themselves for an 'ambush' and so were a bit surprised when an envelope was slipped under the door and into the room. After that, they could hear footsteps retreating hastily.

Celebrían got out from under the warm covers and picked up the envelope on which was written in a familiar scrawl: _"To the best Mother in the whole world"_.

She went back to bed and showed it to her husband. "Do you know what they mean by it?"

But Elrond could just shake his head. "Nay, I don't. But it is obviously for you. So, open it, then we will know for sure."

Out of the envelope Celebrían took a sheet of creamy parchment with very neat letters on it. She could see that the twins had taken great care in writing it. "I will read it out loud to you."

And this is, what the letter said:

"_Dear Mother! _

_During our journey we have come wide and far over the lands and have also visited the remarkable city of Bree, where we encountered a costum so splendid, that we thought it should be included in elven society. _

_So we are telling you now, that from this day forth, every year on the 14th of May, shall be celebrated Mother's Day. _

_And with this letter we want to tell you, how much you mean to us. You are the best mother in the whole wide world and we really don't know what we'd do without you. You're always there when we need you the most, listening to our problems, giving good advice or just cuddling us. We can't even begin to tell you how thankful we are for everything you have done, are still doing, and will do for us in the future. Thank you for everything! We love you so very much and we are happy to have a mother such as you are. _

_Today, we will do everything that you like, we'll be your ready servants. Just tell us what you need and consider it done. _

_Today is Mother's Day and this day is just for you, so that you know how much we appreciate everything you always do for us. _

_Tell Father not to be disappointed, but today he really doesn't matter in the least, he's unimportant, so to speak. If he wants to, he can help us making this day extra special for you. _

_We thought about what we could give you as a present, but in the end we came to the conclusion that nothing was worthy enough to show how much you mean to us. _

_We hope you will enjoy your Mother's Day! _

_Your sons Elladan and Elrohir _

_P.S.: We're sure you know that a caring and understanding mother isn't angry at her sons for what they have attempted to do to please her before composing this letter..." _

As she finished reading, Celebrían had tears in her eyes. Of course, she knew that her sons loved her, but to read it like this was quite overwhelming.

Elrond was very touched as well, happy that his sons were able to express their feelings and mature enough to write something like this.

"Oh Elrond! That is so sweet of them! I would have never thought... I have to go and thank them. It is really such a nice custom, do you not think so?"

Elrond had to agree with her on that and he very much intended to help his sons in _'making this day extra special_'. The letter had brought to his mind that he didn't tell his wife how much he loved her often enough.

But at the same time he couldn't help wondering what the twins had meant with their

P.S... _'Attempted to do'_? He was fearing the worst, because you never knew with those two...

In the end, the day turned out to be wonderful for the whole family. Elrond and Celebrían weren't too angry about the sullied kitchen, because they could see that Elladan and Elrohir had tried very hard to create a nice present for their mother, and the brothers even found the courage to tell their parents about the newly painted room and the broken bowl.

Celebrían actually thought this quite funny and was deeply moved by what lengths the twins had gone to just to make her happy.

From this year onward, Mother's Day came to be a regular holiday in Imladris and every May, Celebrían was looking forward very much to what her sons would come up with to surprise her and to make her happy.

**THE END **

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I hope you liked it. I thought that if Hobbits had existed that early in the Third Age, it would have been more likely for someone of the Took family to approach an elf on their own accord. I hope you agree with me there...

So, leave a review and tell me what you think about it.


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